Asian AngleAustralian ‘mateship’ is burying sexual violence against women

The #MeToo campaign didn’t take off in Australia as it did in the US due to harsh defamation laws and a system that has sold out on ethics

But Brittany Higgins’ case and separate allegations against Attorney General Christian Porter have given women a chance with #March4Justice

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The names and ages of female victims of sexual abuse are displayed on a length of fabric at a March4Justice rally at Treasury Gardens in Melbourne, Australia. Photo: Bloomberg

Published: 5:00am, 20 Mar 2021Updated: 6:05am, 20 Mar 2021

Years ago, in my early 20s, I was at an office Christmas party in Melbourne when a senior male colleague slapped my bottom as he walked past. He winked, said “goodnight” and cruised off with his posse of other drunk male executives.

My shock turned into anger and then concession.

“Probably best to ignore it,” I remember telling myself begrudgingly after I computed how the odds were stacked against me in a complaint. He was a partner; I was a junior.

Though I was one of the luckier ones not to be traumatised by such an incident, years later I realised I was also a statistic in Australia’s growing record of sexual violence against women.

Sexual harassment of and violence against women is a global problem and not unique to Australia. What is unique, however, is how the global #MeToo movement to fight sexual violence against women seemingly passed the country by.

Until now.

Allegations that parliament staffer Brittany Higgins was raped by a male colleague in a minister’s Parliament House office and, separately, that Australian Attorney General Christian Porter raped a 16-year-old girl in 1988 have resulted in a critical mass of anger that has finally brought women to their feet.